We Thought We Had Seen It All Until We Saw People Replacing Toilet Paper With Reusable ‘Family Cloth’

It sounds hard to believe, but indeed some people are replacing toilet paper with something called a “family cloth”. Apologies for the somewhat startling and nauseating explanation: a family cloth is a piece of fabric that one would use to wipe their nether regions after a bowel movement.

In case you're wondering, the difference between a family cloth and toilet paper (apart from the obvious fact that they're made of different material) is that, while you'd throw out a piece of toilet paper that you use, you'd instead toss the used family cloth in your hamper to be washed and reused.

If that's appealing for whatever reason, then you can make the cloth yourself from old clothing that you (preferably) no longer wear. There are also numerous options for colors and patterns on the market. Again, you'd use it in the same way as you use toilet paper, just ensure you get a sealed hamper and, well, do your laundry more often for apparent reasons.

As you imagine, people have had some quite strong reactions to the replacement toilet paper and who can blame them? Yes, using toilet paper in abundance raises your carbon footprint, but certainly, there are other less medieval ways for you to make a positive environmental impact. There should be other steps we can take before this one. It seems a little drastic.

We aren't the only ones who feel this way. Take for instance Twitter user Nicole Cliffe (@Nicole_Cliffe) who wrote, “ahhhh family cloth, my one true enemy”. Twitter can often be a bit of a melodramatic space, but this particular time it’s warranted.

Another Twitter user, Wario Van Peebles (@B1andzig), had a slightly more offended tone, as he wrote, “This morning I learned about ‘family cloth’ and now I’m suing you all.”

And finally, Amy Shuford (@angelamy444) had an eerie prophecy to share with us, “Surely this is the fall of Western civilization #NoWords #familycloth”. But if you’d rather spend more money on laundry detergent, who are we to stop you?